Starting your journey into drawing anime and manga can be both an exciting and challenging adventure. With so many unique styles and characters, it’s no wonder why so many people want to learn how to create their own anime or manga art. However, if you’re a beginner, where do you start? In this article, we’ll guide you through the essential steps to help you begin drawing anime and manga on your own.
Learn to draw anime and manga on Medium.com
Step 1: Master the Fundamentals of Drawing
Before you dive into drawing anime and manga, it’s crucial to understand the basic principles of drawing. Even though anime and manga are stylized, having a strong grasp of basic drawing principles will help you improve faster. This means grasping key concepts like perspective, proportions, and anatomy.
Work on Basic Shapes and Forms
Everything you draw can be broken down into simple shapes. From circles to squares and triangles, mastering these forms will become the basis for all your future artwork. Make sure you practice sketching these shapes from different perspectives and angles.
This will help you understand how to create 3D objects on a 2D surface, which is essential when creating characters.
Step 2: Study Anime and Manga Styles
After you’ve become comfortable with basic drawing techniques, it’s time to start studying anime and manga-specific styles. Anime and manga have unique traits like exaggerated facial expressions, large eyes, and dynamic poses. Get familiar with these traits by reading manga or watching your favorite anime shows.
Deconstruct Your Favorite Characters
One good method for learning anime drawing is deconstructing your favorite characters into simple shapes and forms. Take a character from an anime or manga you love and try to recreate them Using basic shapes. This will give you a better understanding of how these characters are constructed.
After deconstructing, gradually build up the details like hair, clothes, and facial features. You’ll start to see how even the most complex-looking characters can be created using a few simple techniques.
Step 3: Master Drawing Anime Faces
The face is one of the most important aspects of anime and manga characters. It’s often the first thing people notice and can convey a wide range of emotions.
Focus on Eye Styles
One of the most distinguishing features of anime characters is their large, expressive eyes. There are many different ways to draw anime eyes, ranging from simple to highly detailed. A good place to start is by practicing drawing different eye shapes and experimenting with different expressions.
Anime eyes are highly expressive and can convey emotions like happiness, sadness, or anger. Mastering anime eyes will bring your characters to life.
Work on Face Proportions
Anime faces often have different proportions than real-life human faces. The eyes are larger, the nose and mouth are smaller, and the overall head shape may be more exaggerated. Practice these proportions by sketching the face from various angles like front, side, and three-quarter views.
This exercise will help you become comfortable drawing faces from different perspectives.
Step 4: Learn to Draw Anime Bodies
While faces are important, learning to draw the body is essential for creating dynamic and believable characters. Like faces, anime bodies tend to have exaggerated proportions. The limbs may be longer, and the characters may have more defined or stylized physiques.
Study Simple Anatomy
Even if anime bodies are not entirely realistic, it’s essential to understand basic human anatomy. This knowledge will help you create more believable poses and movements. Study how joints bend, muscles flex, and bodies move.
Once you have a good grasp on anatomy, you can start experimenting with more stylized and exaggerated poses.
Step 5: Start Drawing Daily
Consistency is key when learning to draw anime and manga. The more frequently you draw, the faster your skills will improve. Try to set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour each day for drawing.
By making drawing a daily habit, you’ll quickly see improvement in your skills. Keep a sketchbook with you at all times so that you can practice whenever inspiration strikes.
Join Online Art Communities
Besides tutorials, online art communities are great for receiving feedback and encouragement. Platforms like DeviantArt, Reddit art communities, or Instagram are great places to connect with other artists and share your progress.
You can stay motivated by sharing your art and watching others’ improvement too.